Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Awaken!

Renewal

May all things move and be moved in me
and know and be known in me.
May all creation
dance for joy within me.”
Chinook Psalter (Earth Prayers)

Spring is here. Pollen fills the air with a golden light. All the world is covered with the proof of life renewed. April is the month here in the Deep South, when summer hovers in the wings, waiting to spring upon us at a moment's notice. We fill with anticipation and dread—for the life it brings and its stifling heat. But for the moment, Spring!

One can't help feeling the excitement, the joy. Azaleas and dogwoods now in full bloom, trees leafed out. Oak flowers carpeting sidewalks and driveways, and unfortunately, my dog, Liza. She comes in looking like a woolly honey bee, legs laden with pollen. Nature has made it inside my house, grains of pollen dust the wood floor. I sweep dozens of oak flowers into piles every day, knowing full well many more will follow. Not to be denied, life brazenly presents itself.

And, as with all of life, comes pain. The scratchy eyes, sore throat, sneezing and blowing nose. Most of us gulp antihistamines and pray for rain. But through it all runs the undercurrent of excitement—it's worth the pain to see a year explode into bloom before our very eyes. Somehow, in this movement of nature, we too are awakened. We feel the energy flowing, the sap beginning to rise. We feel the exuberance of renewal. We are within Spring, and Spring is within us. Give thanks! Amen!

                                                               In the Spirit,

                                                                  Jane

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